Lakers hold off Hawks, push winning streak to 4

LeBron James scored 32 points with 9 assists and Malik Monk added a season-high 29 points as the Los Angeles Lakers stretched their winning streak to four games with a 134-118 victory over the visiting Atlanta Hawks Friday night, January 7 (Saturday, January 8, Manila time).

Avery Bradley and Talen Horton-Tucker each had 21 points for the Lakers, who have won five of their last six games following a five-game losing streak that came immediately after Anthony Davis was lost for a month with a knee injury.

Trae Young scored 25 points with 14 assists and 9 rebounds as the Hawks fell to 2-3 on a six-game road trip that concludes Sunday in Los Angeles against the Clippers. Young had his 17th consecutive game of 25 or more points to break Dominique Wilkins’ franchise record.

Young, who entered second in the NBA with an average of 28.4 points, was playing in his first game since scoring 56 points in a road loss to the Portland Trail Blazers on Monday. He missed Wednesday’s game at Sacramento with a bruised lower back.

The Lakers roared out to a 12-point lead less than five minutes into the game and pushed the advantage to 19 points at 53-34 with 7:05 remaining before halftime. The Hawks closed the first half on a 27-11 run to trail 64-61 at the break.

The Hawks pulled within four at 73-69 with 7:58 remaining in the third quarter before Horton-Tucker and Carmelo Anthony combined for 19 points over the final 4:12 of the period to give Los Angeles a 101-87 advantage.

The Lakers finished off the victory despite seeing Russell Westbrook foul out with 4:39 remaining. 

Westbrook had 9 points, 11 rebounds, and 13 assists. Anthony finished with 17 points for Los Angeles.

John Collins had 21 points for the Hawks, while Bogdan Bogdanovic added 15. Both were making their return from COVID-19 protocol. Kevin Huerter had 16 points for Atlanta, Danilo Gallinari had 13, and Clint Capela had 9 points with 11 rebounds. – Rappler.com